Improvements in transport properties, i.e., carrier mobility, through strain have been demonstrated in the operating characteristics of field effect transistors (FETs). For complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, an improvement in device characteristics through enhanced carrier mobility has significant potential for the fabrication of very high-speed devices. Strained silicon on a relaxed SiGe substrate is one system where such an improvement occurs, see, for example, D. K. Nayak, et al., “High Mobility p-Channel Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect-Transistor on Strained Si,” Appl. Phys. Lett., 62 (22), p. 2853–2855 (1993).
Experimental research on enhanced carrier mobility MOSFETs caused by strain has concentrated on a strained Si layer grown on a relaxed SiGe substrate. MOSFET's fabricated using the Si/SiGe system exhibit the following disadvantages: (1) High source and drain junction leakage—the FET source and drain junctions, as well as the channel region, are formed in a strained Si area resulting in high junction leakage. (2) The Si/SiGe system MOSFET process is not compatible with mainstream CMOS fabrication techniques requiring specially prepared substrates using molecular beam epitaxy. (3) The Si/SiGe system MOSFET process is costly with low production rate.
In view of the drawbacks mentioned above, there is a need for providing a method of forming a MOSFET device in which the device channel is locally strained while the adjoining source/drain junctions are unstrained.